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Gift From Within - PTSD Questions & Answers with Frank Ochberg, M.D.

PTSD: Definition of PTSD How Common, Who Gets PTSD? Is PTSD a normal event? Does PTSD Affect The Brain? Duration Pregnancy Delayed Onset PTSD PTSD Tip Sheet for your Doctor Medications for PTSD Distinguishing PTSD from BPD Generalized Anxiety Disorder Can the Wounds of PTSD Heal? Complex/Chronic PTSD: CPTSD Explanation Long Term Prognosis & Complex PTSD PTSD vs. CPTSD Managing Past Intense Feelings Overcoming Complex PTSD PTSD Symptoms: Anger and Brain Injury Anger Flashbacks Loneliness Feelings Of Loss And Sense Of Self Anxiety Numbing Re-Traumatization Differences bet. Depression, Dysthemia, Major Depression Depression vs. Sadness and Grief Biological Depression Memory Loss Triggers and Body Sensations PTSD & Facial Tics Emotional & Physical Reactions Delayed Stress Response after Experiencing a Shock Can A False Memory Happen? Differences Between Hypervigilance and Hyperarousal Negativity & Pessismism after Trauma PTSD/PTSI Insomnia: Not Being Able To Sleep PTSD/PTSI & Psychosis Relationships: Peer Support Issues Explaining PTSD To Children False Memory Toxic Family Of Origin Protection From Unwanted Contact Preventing Intergenerational PTSD Numbing in Male Survivors of Domestic Violence How To Increase Social Support Caregivers/Partners with PTSD: Starting a Conversation about PTSD Both Partners with PTSD & its Complications Fiancé Doesn't Believe in Therapy Managing PTSD After Partner Pushes Too Hard Childhood Abuse: Emotional Abuse Childhood Trauma & Intrusive Images Revisiting The Scene Of Trauma And Abuse Gaslighting Stockholm Syndrome & Child Abuse Survivors Can a Child be Born Depressed Childhood Survivors and Being a Parent Work Issues: Disability Letter for Attorney-Sample Low Stress Jobs Doctor's letter for Employer Sample Dealing with Co-Workers Job Searching with PTSD Recovery: Frank Ochberg's Color Wheel of Positive Emotion Triggers Rebuilding Self Esteem Life After Trauma Coping During The Holidays Substance Abuse Improving A Damaged Self-Concept Explaining PTSD is a Responsibility Grief & Loss from a Tragic Death The Trauma Bond & Forgiveness Sudden Panic, Anxiety & Flashbacks Stockholm Syndrome, Trauma Bond and Undue Influence Therapy: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Inadequate Therapy When to End Therapy Repeating Your Trauma Story PTSD Symptoms After The Therapy Hour Exposure Therapy Service/Therapy Dogs & PTSD ECT (Electro-Convulsive-Therapy) Bipolar & ECT Therapy: An Interview Telling Trauma Story to Therapist PTSD Client Expectations from Therapy Sessions Veterans & PTSD: PTSD A Disease Seasonal PTSD & Anniversary Reaction. Emotional Injury Therapy Sessions Active Listening for Moms and Friends Military Sexual Assault Professionals: Compassion Fatigue Consequences Of Emotional Numbing School Teachers And PTSD Using The Counting Method with Clients Helping Clients with PTSD Other Conditions: Borderline Personality Disorder Social Phobia Dissociation Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Cutting & Self Harm Link between PTSD, BPD and Bi-Polar Somatization Disorder or Briquet's Syndrome Stockholm Syndrome & Child Abuse Survivors Dealing with Psychopaths & Narcissists

PTSD Questions & Answers with Joyce Boaz & Dr. Frank Ochberg, M.D. Read "Survivor Psalm" by Frank Ochberg

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Professionals: Graduate student asking about helping clients with PTSD. Q: Advice from Dr. Ochberg to a Graduate Student studying to be a Mental Health Counselor about working with a client that is having a mental breakdown. Dr. Frank Ochberg: I want to first say thank you for what you do for out military and for helping me to understand my son a little better. I am a graduate student at Walden University my degree that I hope to get is Master degree in Mental Health Counselor. We had to watch a video of the field that we want to specialize in and I choose yours. You helped me understand PTSD a little more and hope to understand it better in time. Is there any thing that you can tell a student that is coming into this field that would help them understand working with clients that have a break in their mental health? A: Dear Graduate Student: Thank you for your email and your interest in helping others. I'm going to give a short answer for now. We used to call all forms of sudden shifts in mood, thought and behavior a "mental breakdown." In some cases it was a depression, now termed "Major Depressive Disorder." Unfortunately, this is rather common and it may be very severe, with suicidal thoughts, retreat into self-isolation, very low self-esteem, and little desire to seek assistance. Sometimes it is a first episode of schizophrenia, with hallucinations and delusions. When it comes after a terrible trauma, like the death of a child, it is usually PTSD and you know about that now from various descriptions on the Gift From Within website. A "mental break" may be more mild, but still difficult and confusing - a sense of shame or fear or demoralization during a period of frustration. Often, these have to do with bullying or rejection or mistreatment by a powerful family member. The student who wants to be knowledgeable, sensible and helpful needs to learn about these conditions and to realize that they are NOT due to weakness or orneriness. Anyone can have a medical illness or an injury and, usually, these breaks from mental health are just that- a form of medical illness or injury. I want the label, PTSD, changed to PTSI -for INJURY. Something has broken the ability of the nervous system to handle stress and it will take time to heal. During that time, the survivor has flashbacks and feels numb and cannot turn down the alarm system that makes him or her on edge - looking for danger everywhere. My advice to the student: be a student and LEARN. Read all about these conditions. Also, be like a doctor and be KIND and CAREFUL and SCIENTIFIC. You can't be all these things at once, but you can get there one step at a time. We who stay in this field and who do well are all good listeners. We listen carefully. We don't tell people how to think. A person who suffers an emotional injury often wants to tell us what they are experiencing. They benefit enormously when we "get it." We may not be able to "fix it." But we understand and we care and they can feel that. It is sometimes called "the ministry of presence." We are there beside them and that, in itself, is a gift. Best, Frank Ochberg MD Tweet Was this helpful to you? If so, please consider supporting our work.

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